Work Experience 06

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26206.jpgWallace High School’s Lower Sixth pupils spent a week away from their Clonevin Park classrooms recently, undertaking valuable work experience. This experience comes at a pivotal time for the teenagers as they will are now considering their options for tertiary education in their careers tutorials and will be completing UCAS entries in the autumn.

Mrs Margaret Mitchell, who coordinated the work shadowing scheme, explained, “Our pupils have gained a great deal from their work shadowing placements. They have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity of gaining a very realistic insight into an incredible range of careers.”

Several pupils took the opportunity to travel, completing their placements in England, Scotland and France. Richard Hunter from Anahilt spent a week in the Arts Educational School in London, shadowing dance and musical theatre teachers. He commented, “I hope to study at Arts Ed next year and my week there was excellent. The lecturers were very helpful and I learnt a lot about daily life at the College.”

Holly Anderson also had the opportunity to travel across Northern Ireland with Cher Simpson-Watt from the Laura Ashley Design Service. Holly said, “I would like to become an interior designer and had a fantastic week with Cher, visiting client homes at various stages of the design process and assisting in the store. Cher also gave me very valuable advice on relevant courses following my A levels.”

Gareth Patterson, who hopes to study medicine at QUB next year was able to divide his time away from the classroom, spending some time in Lisburn Health Centre with a GP and the rest of the week at the Framar Health Clinic. He explained, “It was fascinating to see various approaches to medicine and I really appreciated being able to shadow a range of practitioners”

Head of Careers in Wallace, Paul Beaton concluded, “We are very appreciative to all the employers who helped make this week so beneficial for our pupils. The Lower Sixths are making vital decisions at the moment and the work shadowing placements, along with university visits, mock interviews and weekly tutorials is a vital part of our careers provision here in Wallace. These placements are invaluable as they not only give the pupil an experience of the nature of the work involved but also the skills required for this type of work.”

Last modified: September 20, 2023